tun
Noun
- a large cask especially one holding a volume equivalent to 2 butts or 252 gals
- A large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)
- A fermenting vat.
- A traditional unit of liquid measure (from the volume of such a cask) equal to 252 wine gallons or 2 pipes.
- Synonym of long ton: a unit of mass equal to 2240 pounds, 20 hundredweights of 112 pounds avoirdupois each.
- Synonym of ton: any extremely or excessively large amount.
- Synonym of drunkard: a person who drinks excessively.
- Any shell belonging to Tonna and allied genera.
- The cryptobiotic state of a tardigrade, when its metabolism is temporarily suspended.
- A small silver cup holding half a pint, sometimes having a whistle in the handle that could not be blown until the cup was empty.
- a chimney.
- A part of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar system which corresponds to 18 winal cycles or 360 days.
Verb
Verb Forms: tunned, tunning, tuns
- To store in a large cask or barrel.
- To put into tuns, or casks.
Examples
- He tried to TUN his best words, saving them for a future big play that never came.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English tunne, tonne (“cask, barrel”), from Old English tunne (“tun, cask, barrel”), from Proto-Germanic *tunnǭ, *tunnō (“tun, barrel, cask”), from Latin tunna, probably of Gaulish origin.
Cognate with North Frisian tenn (“tun, barrel, cask”), Dutch ton (“tun, barrel, cask”), German Tonne (“tun, barrel, drum”), Danish tønde (“barrel”), Swedish tunna (“barrel, cask, tun”), Icelandic tunna (“barrel”). Compare also Old French tonne, French tonneau (“ton, barrel”), Medieval Latin tunna (“cask”), Middle Irish tunna (“cask”), Welsh tynell (“tun, barrel”). It is uncertain whether the Germanic or the Celtic forms are the original.
Scrabble Score: 3
tun: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordtun: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tun: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary